Born without bones

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) -- The outlook is dramatically improving for a 6-year-old Tennessee girl who was born with no bones in her body, as her rare medical condition called for an even rarer treatment.

Janelly Martinez-Amador was born with a rare illness that doctors believed was unsurvivable, but the use of a new drug and treatment has put hope back into the prognosis.

"It would be a death sentence. We had a child here a decade ago with this - a very sweet little boy. We tried every approach we could to help him build bones to manage this disease. He slowly deteriorated and we lost him," said Dr. Bill Russell, with Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

Now, a new drug and experimental treatment at Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital has changed everything. For the first time in her life, something critical showed up on Janelly's x-ray.